Even outside of your design practice, your own view point of the world is a pulling together of all the things you experience on a day to day basis. When you find a new idea it goes through your own creative filter, resulting in work which is yours. By becoming a link in the creative chain, others will follow you and be inspired by you.

One of the most effective ways to convey the message of your brand is by having a great logo. Logos only make up a part of the whole brand image, but it’s an important element. A logo is the visual symbol which companies use to help customers identify their brand.

Logos can be used on a number of marketing media, sales items and merchandise. It needs to be clear, punchy, eye catching and above all memorable. Choosing colours that are pleasing to the eye or convey the message of your brand is important. For example, companies with an environmental message often use green to remind the customer what they are all about. A good logo also needs to be simple as over complicated logos are easily forgotten. One of the world’s most successful logos is the Nike tick, it’s clear, simple and encapsulates the essence of movement and precision.

What companies probably struggle with the most is creating a logo which epitomises the essence of a brand. Creating a ‘symbol’ to convey the personality of your business is no mean feat. Being such a strong marketing tool, many companies opt to employ a good graphic design agency in order to assist in the design of the logo. Graphic design agencies are able to offer both the creative expertise and business knowledge necessary to create the logo.

What pops into your head at the mention of Tiger Woods, The Times or Thomas the tank engine? These brands are likely to have associations, be they positive or negative, current or nostalgic which invoke instant emotion. So it won’t be a shock to learn that your company’s brand works in the same way for your audience.

Having said that, finding your niche in the fiercely competitive marketplace is tough so branding, which can also be thought of impression management, is a tool to keep you one step ahead of the rest. Leading your brand to instant recognition in the minds of your customers hinges on nothing more than a simple but distinctive idea. Take Google, set up by two University friends who wanted to “organise the world’s information”.

New customers are most likely to come across your business via internet searches, so the most effective way to form a good first impression is to make your website as user-friendly, interesting and accessible as possible. Here’s a video which describes some of the common mistakes and how a website design company can help:

As well as instant recognition, another important aspect is instant recall. Your website will be amongst a few companies under consideration at this stage in the customer’s mind, so to back up your online brand, the company needs to deliver on its promises and every touch point will need to reinforce what they already know about you. The aim for a brand is therefore to keep the opinions of what pops into its customers minds instant and justifiably positive.

When we were approached by Archive Document Data Storage their existing branding and website lacked the impact they needed to stand out in the competitive record and information management market. Retaining the hexagon shape from their previous identity we simplified and improved it to make it more visually approachable and recognisable.

A simple graphic speech bubble device with a friendly and sometimes humorous tone of voice combine to give the brand a friendly touch that immediately distinguishes them from the competition. A striking set of digital illustrations were provided to move away from the obvious and often boring imagery of boxes and files, they add depth to the brand and are now used across their full range of marketing materials.

Part of the rebrand also involved redesigning The File Queen, an already established character used for a consultation based service offering and as an industry information source. She needed to be updated and modernised to bring her inline with the new brand.

Project Links:
www.archivestorage.net

This was a particularly exciting project for Pink as it gave us a our first opportunity to design an App. Our long-term client Crystal Interactive came to us with a concept, silent auctions for the charity sector where they would supply an App and interactive leaderboards alongside their usual technology offering. The name “Giving Live” was coined at an early client meeting, from there we developed a simple but striking visual identity that references both a price tag and a marker arrow. The identity was designed to sit well on its own but most importantly it needed to be subtle enough that it could sit alongside a myriad of charity brandings. The brand was then brought to life with handwritten supporting typography and icon illustrations to link it with the charity sector.

The real challenge came because the charity using the App and leaderboards would be able to customise them inline with their own branding. From initial concept through to our designs for the final screens we carried out a large amount of testing to ensure that the interface would be simple to navigate, easily customisable and most importantly work well with a large range of brands applied.

Project Links:
www.givinglive.com

The marketing team for UBM’s Food Ingredients portfolio approached us to help them develop and apply the branding they had for a new exhibition being launched this year. Using the existing logo we came up with a brand property that could then be applied across all marketing material and digital communications. The circular elements in the logo refer to the six parts of the show, our solution was to derive a series of images for each of the elements using a half-toning effect (a style of imagery that is composed of hundreds of smaller circles). We then completed the new look with the tagline “NuW: the 360° perspective”, which references the experience attendees of the show will have, giving them a 360° perspective of the nutritional and wellness industry.

This brand property was then applied across press ads, direct mail pieces and email marketing.

Everyone suffers a bit of creative block occasionally. Even the greatest artists and novelists have felt despair at a temporary lack of productivity. Check out our tips for getting past your block:

1. Seek out a change of scenery
Take a walk, grab a coffee or even take your laptop to the park. It’s certainly true that change is as good as a break.

2. Hunt out inspiration
We all need a bit of inspiration from time to time. Even the most creative of us can’t work solely from our own brains and memories all the time. If you need think ‘nature’, head to a country park or the beach. If you need to be thinking ‘urban’, take an hour out to people watch in a busy city café or go for a bike ride around your neighbourhood.

3. Rest and relaxation
A tired brain is an ineffective one. Just like muscles, your brain needs an opportunity to rest and recuperate. Go home and take a bath or just sleep on it.

4. Ask for help
It’s sometimes useful to accept that there may be someone out there who can do it better than you. People with the necessary skills and expertise, perhaps from a graphic design agency or web design agency may be able think outside the box for you.

5. Look to your staff
Maybe a member of your staff has been harbouring a great skill in design which needs nurturing. Perhaps it’s worth seeking out staff with graphic design or web design experience who can complement your business, or giving a current staff member some extra training.

It is a well-recognised fact of life that it is difficult, if nearly impossible to think and write about your own experience and achievements in an objective way. For instance, just think back to the ordeal of composing a CV. In business, this extends to how you think and write about your business, as well as how you present it to the outside world. There is no time to be modest. In a cluttered marketplace, you need a way of drawing out the aspects of what you do that are unique, and not only what you do well, but how you are more effective at doing it than your competitors. This is where the creative experts can help. In terms of branding your business, whether it be through your visual identity or using the latest digital applications, a design company will get to know you, understand your needs and follow your objectives, and this all boils down to helping you communicate better with your audience and future customers.

“The sales team need new business cards”, a phrase that heralds the start of a major upheaval as a new image is needed – or maybe the CEO is suddenly bored of the current one – and one of the many graphic design agencies will be called upon to look at refreshing or rebranding the whole company. Cue the cold shoulder from the CFO and the nervous apprehension in the marketing team, but there is a way to avoid this tension.

Rewind to when the company was set up. It was built around a set of goals and values which are likely to be still going strong today and have a look and feel that the owners, employees, suppliers and customers recognise. Take some time to evaluate what these are, and if they’re not written down, go and find a pen.

The importance of communicating an organisation’s values cannot be played down as in effect, they narrate the story of the company. Take Ikea, who made it their mission to “create a better everyday life” for their customers. Each company can brand itself in these bold terms, in short, branding is just a reflection of who you already are. Let your audience know the brand story, the personality of the company, let the artwork indicate the feel for the style of the company and not only will you have a clearer idea of what you want from the design agency, you’ll have a better idea of where you company is going as a whole.

For more brand management techniques, go to: businesslink.gov.uk

Once you’ve decided to expand your business and have researched a potential new audience, re-designing your product can help you permeate a new market. Perhaps you have considered finding new clients or customers overseas, either in Europe or beyond.

The thought that you put into your product and marketing materials for your original audience needs to be replicated for a new market. It’s no good gently tweaking what you already have – you need to really think about the environment, culture and norms of your new audience and whether you can add value to your existing offer by giving it a brand new edge.

For example the fact your product is ‘Made in England’ may be something you wish to incorporate into your look or packing. You may also find your local business confederation or industry trade association organises trade missions which could allow you to travel to other countries and learn about the export trade.